Most consecutive team games, no XBH
Posted by Andy on January 28, 2008
I did a team streak finder for most consecutive games with no Extra Base Hits (XBH.) It runs from 1957 to 2007 and here are the top three:
Team StreakStart Streak End Games W L AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SO BB SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Opponents +-------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ NYY 1967-04-14 1967-04-22 6 3 3 218 16 43 0 0 0 15 34 33 1 0 .197 .307 .197 .504 BOS,CHW PIT 1985-05-17 1985-05-21 5 2 3 151 10 32 0 0 0 10 32 19 4 4 .212 .298 .212 .510 CIN,HOU LAA 1964-06-26 1964-06-30 5 2 3 147 8 29 0 0 0 6 17 15 2 1 .197 .274 .197 .471 KCA,NYY
These are the only teams to muster more than 4 straight games with no XBH. Surprisingly, their records are pretty good, with that 1967 Yankees team going 3 and 3 in their streak of 6 such games.
Here are those 6 games:
TmG Date Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RB BB IW SO HB SH SF RE DP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS LOB Batrs Th Opp. Starter +---+---------+----+-------+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+--+------------+ 3 Apr 14 BOS L 0-3 33 28 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 .223 .298 .359 .657 6 13 L B.Rohr 4 Apr 15 BOS W 1-0 33 27 1 5 0 0 0 1 4 1 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 .215 .301 .323 .624 8 9 L D.Bennett 5 Apr 16 BOS W 7-6 76 65 7 15 0 0 0 6 9 0 13 1 1 0 1 3 1 0 .221 .312 .292 .604 16 19 R J.Lonborg 6 Apr 19 @CHW W 3-0 40 31 3 7 0 0 0 3 6 2 2 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 .221 .315 .283 .598 10 9 L T.John 7 Apr 21 @BOS L 1-6 36 35 1 8 0 0 0 1 1 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .222 .307 .276 .583 8 14 L B.Rohr 8 Apr 22 @BOS L 4-5 43 32 4 7 0 0 0 4 8 0 6 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .222 .317 .270 .587 12 16 R J.Lonborg
Can you imagine a team scoring 7 runs today with no doubles, triples, or homers? Sheesh.
I would have to think that in the modern era, it is pretty hard to win a game without a single extra-base hit.
Here are the longest streaks from the last 10 seasons (1998-2007):
Team StreakStart Streak End Games W L AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SO BB SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Opponents +-------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ SDP 2005-09-10 2005-09-12 3 0 3 92 7 18 0 0 0 6 18 11 0 1 .196 .286 .196 .482 LAD,SFG CHW 2004-09-14 2004-09-16 3 0 3 89 4 15 0 0 0 4 16 6 0 1 .169 .227 .169 .396 MIN KCR 2004-08-31 2004-09-03 3 2 1 100 10 25 0 0 0 9 27 6 0 0 .250 .290 .250 .540 DET,MIN KCR 2004-07-05 2004-07-07 3 0 3 87 0 13 0 0 0 0 24 2 2 1 .149 .196 .149 .345 MIN TBD 2004-04-17 2004-04-20 3 0 3 91 2 12 0 0 0 1 13 7 1 1 .132 .202 .132 .334 CHW,BAL MON 2004-04-11 2004-04-14 3 0 3 92 1 18 0 0 0 1 21 8 0 1 .196 .257 .196 .453 NYM,FLA BAL 2003-07-11 2003-07-13 3 0 3 92 3 15 0 0 0 1 17 3 1 0 .163 .189 .163 .352 OAK MIL 2003-05-24 2003-05-27 3 1 2 86 5 13 0 0 0 5 22 9 0 1 .151 .245 .151 .396 LAD,SDP PIT 2003-05-02 2003-05-04 3 1 2 97 8 18 0 0 0 6 23 11 4 0 .186 .269 .186 .455 LAD STL 2002-08-04 2002-08-07 3 0 3 93 3 14 0 0 0 1 11 5 0 1 .151 .194 .151 .345 ATL,MON SFG 2002-05-30 2002-06-01 3 0 3 92 6 21 0 0 0 5 14 7 2 2 .228 .280 .228 .508 ARI,COL SDP 2001-09-03 2001-09-05 3 0 3 89 1 10 0 0 0 1 20 4 2 0 .112 .160 .112 .272 STL NYY 2000-05-13 2000-05-16 3 0 3 95 4 16 0 0 0 4 16 10 1 1 .168 .255 .168 .423 DET,CHW
Indeed, check out that record. 4 up and 35 down, a .103 winning percentage.
But if you thought the Yankees scoring 7 runs in 1967 without an XBH was impressive, check out this game, one of the Royals' victories in their 3-game streak above from 2004. Nine runs on 17 singles, 3 walks, and 2 reaches-on-error.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Using the Team Game Finder, I get a 2007 won-loss record of 42 wins and 222 losses for teams with 0 XBHs in a game. That's a .159 winning percentage. Looking at the years 2000 through 2007 together I get 333 wins and 1,790 losses, for a .157 winning percentage.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Nice...I bet it's a lot higher in the 1960s (though still not great, probably.)
January 28th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Andy you are absolutely correct.
From 1960-1969 teams that had 0 XBH in a game were 789-2862, which is a .276 winning percentage. Over 162 games the difference between .157 and .276 is the difference between 25 wins and 44.
The record for runs in a game without an XBH is 16 by the '79 Royals.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR197908060.shtml
January 28th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Speaking of Royals games, check this one out. Sixteen runs on 17 singles, 7 walks, 2 errors and a hit-by-pitch.
Then there's this. Twenty-two singles!!
January 28th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Raphy, can you do just 1964?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I made a mistake before. 789-2862 is .216 or 35 per 162.
In 1964 the record was 95-303 which is .239 which is 39 per 162.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Thanks. What a weird season.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I wonder how much of the difference is pure statistics. In other words, back in the 1960s, extra base hits were rarer, and teams must have won more games while hitting fewer XBHs on average than they do today. Therefore, based purely on natural distributions, we'd expect more wins in the 1960s with 0 XBH than we would today. This question goes way beyond the PI, though, and requires a math whiz like Sean or the THT guys.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
It makes perfect sense. My comment about 1964 has more to do with selective memory and coincidence than anything else. Somehow it seems that, using the PI, I've found a lot of anomalies and extremes from that year (mostly stuff related to lack-of-scoring), but I'm sure similar things occurred in other 60's and early 70's seasons.